"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

by Smitty
Pat in Shreveport links the WSJ story about an independent Trump candidacy if His Donaldness doesn’t score the GOP nomination.
Well, we can just pack it in right now, as far as I can tell. Clearly 1992 will repeat itself.

There will be an equestrian GOP candidate who can be relied upon to give good concession speech.

There will be Trump, a Perot with ridiculous hair instead of ears.

There will be a Democrat riding to victory.

The destiny is sealed, the bumper-stickers sold, and the jokes are writing themselves.
No, the preceding snark isn’t a prophecy, and mainly due to the Internet. While the electorate may not be fully awake, it’s certainly not asleep. Trump is stroking the public pleasure centers like a master. But Trump is merely the next step in the movement from statesmen of old, through BHO, in the direction of the Executive as celebrity media mogul. Expect President P. Diddy-POTUS before the decade is out, if Trump is elected.

P. Diddy POTUS?

I don’t think it a fair comparison to lump Tim Pawlenty in with the apparatchiks who would be nominated just for an eloquent concession speech. Just because he hasn’t laid Stacy McCain out with a cross-check means that Stacy doesn’t respect him. (Aside to Pawlenty campaign: Stacy just craves a little abuse, that’s all. I blame Charlie Sheen for the sensory overload that has made Stacy unable to appreciate Pawlenty.) Hoever, if you read Pawlenty’s Book, he’s actually about as good as mortal candidates get. Yeah, he blew it on Cap’N’Trade. Allow him to repent.
Donald Trump is nothing more than a spacer between now and the end of the year. I can’t believe he’d be so myopic as to divide the conservative house in any real way when the stakes are too damn high.